The company has allegedly duped investors of over a crore rupees by promising them higher returns through various lucrative schemes. It had illegally opened a branch office at Amlapda area of the town to boost its local collections.

The scam came to fore after the company didn’t pay back to one of the investors even after the maturity of the policy. The investor lodged a complaint with Angul police following which large numbers of other investors also lodged their complaints.

“They kept assuring me that my money is safe with them and I would get high returns on it. I sold my land and invested Rs One lakh. My only son wanted a vehicle, but I didn’t buy him one. Instead gave them that Rs 45,000,” said an investor.

“I run a small business. I invested all my profits with this company as they assured me that I would get better returns than the bank. My policy is matured, but neither are they giving me back the promised amount nor the amount I invested,” said another.

Based on the complaints, the town police raided the company office and arrested both officials. Besides, many important documents, computers and Rs 42,000 in cash were also seized.

The arrested executives have been identified as Secretary of the company Loknath Behera and in-charge of Angul branch Basant Kumar Sahu. The cops are questioning both.

“As per reports, Laxmi cooperative society initially had license from Deputy Cooperative Society for business in four districts. The Angul branch, however, is an unauthorized one. Basant Kumar Sahu, one of the board of directors of the company and the branch in-charge of Angul used to collect money on his name and used to deposit it at the Cuttack office,” said RN Deo, SDPO of Angul.